


one of these days

by suheafoams



Category: ONEUS (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Supernatural Elements, background!youngdo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29952258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suheafoams/pseuds/suheafoams
Summary: It’s not uncommon for Seoho to seek Keonhee out around lunchtime, usually to pull pranks like spill an empty cup of coffee onto him or bring yet another token of havoc in the form of a new bird plushie to add to Keonhee’s unwilling collection.Today, though, there’s only careful concern trickling along their bond as Seoho sidles up to Keonhee at the convenience store located directly across the street from their neighboring office buildings.“You should eat more than just rice balls for lunch,” Seoho says in lieu of a normal greeting. “You’re going to rot from malnutrition, and then I won’t have anyone to bully anymore.”
Relationships: Lee Keonhee/Lee Seoho
Comments: 25
Kudos: 83





	one of these days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [toomoon (jjjat3am)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjjat3am/gifts).



> hi julija!  
> happy (belated) birthday!! i am wishing you lots of health and happiness for this year and all the years that follow. you're a wonderful person ♡ 
> 
> i hope this is a fun read for you and anyone that stumbles upon this fic ;; <3

It’s not uncommon for Seoho to seek Keonhee out around lunchtime, usually to pull pranks like spill an empty cup of coffee onto him or bring yet another token of havoc in the form of a new bird plushie to add to Keonhee’s unwilling collection. 

With the soul bond that’d spontaneously formed between them somewhere between Keonhee’s last year of college and the following summer, though, Keonhee can sense when Seoho’s physically close. Not because gauging current proximity between soulmates is a perk of the bond, but more because Seoho’s emotions will spike up from his purposefully muted indifference into loud, cheerful glee at the thought of being able to make Keonhee scream. That’s when Keonhee’s fight or flight instincts usually kick in, even if it’s often already too late at that point to escape unscathed. 

Today, though, there’s only careful concern trickling along their bond as Seoho sidles up to Keonhee at the convenience store located directly across the street from their neighboring office buildings. 

The law firm Seoho works in was renovated a few years back, and its wide, reflective windows and dark gray exterior gives it a much sleeker appearance compared to the building next to it where Keonhee’s matchmaking agency sits, with its bright neon signs and thick Hangul font for the other stores above or below Keonhee’s business. 

Keonhee turns to peer up at Seoho through his hair, tuna flavored rice ball still shoved halfway into his mouth as he confirms, with relief, that Seoho isn’t hiding anything behind his back. His hands are shoved into the front pockets of his work slacks, and even if it’s disarming as usual, his smile doesn’t quite reach his eyes, which is troubling in a different way. 

“You should eat more than just rice balls for lunch,” Seoho says in lieu of a normal greeting. “You’re going to rot from malnutrition, and then I won’t have anyone to bully anymore.” 

“That’s okay,” Keonhee says, chewing with his mouth closed before he speaks again. Seoho doesn’t like it when people make a mess eating, so Keonhee’s gotten in the habit of being on his best behavior. “I make up for it by eating dinner with you! And it’s getting really busy at the matchmaking agency, so.” 

“One decently nutritious meal isn’t enough,” Seoho says. “And you should make Youngjo do more work if you’re getting swamped with clients.” 

“Half the people who walk in just end up falling for him instead.” Keonhee sighs. Their agency facilitates spontaneous bonds for those looking to expedite the process by checking all aspects of compatibility between candidates, but it certainly doesn’t stop people from dreaming of a star crossed romance with Youngjo upon seeing his long, fluttery eyelashes and soulful poet eyes. “His work uniform should just be a t-shirt with a giant cutout of Geonhak hyung’s face, with the letters ‘ _H I S’_ underneath.” 

(Well, Youngjo has expressed _strong_ interest on both his and Geonhak’s end in getting to know the other half of Keonhee’s soul bond better, but that’s a whole other can of worms to unpack. Keonhee is definitely not going to let Youngjo try to romance his way into Seoho’s pants, and it’s most! certainly! not! because he’s afraid Youngjo will be successful or anything.) 

“A little infatuation is normal, right?” Seoho says, laughing. He’s seen Youngjo’s Instagram before, courtesy to Keonhee humoring his curiosity after multiple anecdotes of Youngjo’s greaseball behavior, and had merely said _it all makes sense now_ without revealing his personal stance on Youngjo’s personality. “It’s not like they’ll bond to him because of that.” 

“Bonds are unpredictable,” Keonhee says. “And even if they weren’t, it’s a hassle to have to pry their eyes away from him. It’s like trying to un-fry an egg. Impossible.” 

“I guess so.” Seoho’s amusement slowly plucks away, petals of warmth fading to make way for his initial prickliness of concern, and that reminds Keonhee to ask him what’s wrong. 

“What brings you here?” Keonhee says, brushing a grain of rice off his lips. “If you’re not being a menace, you’ve got your nose glued to a law book or you’re off to do guest lectures and steal the hearts of disillusioned, overworked university students.” 

“Your emotions were so loud earlier I couldn’t focus on my work,” Seoho says, pointedly ignoring everything else after Keonhee’s question. He steps away from the counter Keonhee’s eating at to look at a hamster keychain on display, fiddling with the tiny orange and white paws. “I thought I’d stop by your second home—” a playful gesture at the convenience store’s interior, “to make sure you weren’t freaking out about anything too urgent.”

“My emotions aren’t _loud_ ,” Keonhee replies. The empty rice ball wrapper crinkles in his hands as he flattens and folds the edges so it won’t take up space in the trash can when he tosses it. “I can’t help that I _feel_ things and you’re just emotionally constipated. Don’t you feel all gross inside?” 

“I feel gross inside because you’ve got the emotional capacity of three people combined, and as a result, I have quadruple the empathy of the average human, so blame it on yourself,” Seoho says. “Anyways, what’s up?” 

Keonhee pouts. He knows what Seoho’s referring to by his emotions having been loud earlier, since he’d been talking to Youngjo about what was bothering him, and Youngjo tends to point out helpful truths and spite Keonhee all in the same breath, putting all of Keonhee’s already bright, strong emotions into overdrive. 

The only problem is that Keonhee’s not sure how much of it he should bring up with Seoho. 

“It’s not really anything major—”

Seoho’s eyes pull into cute crescents even as his gaze sharpens, a sign that he’s paying much closer attention. “Oh good, that means I can go right?” 

“ _Hyung,_ ” Keonhee groans. 

Seoho sits down on the plastic, bright red stool next to Keonhee, reaching over in front of Keonhee to steal his open can of fruit juice and sip from it. 

Keonhee blinks at him. “That wasn’t meant for sharing.” 

“Keonhee-ah,” Seoho says. “Don’t you worry about my health? What if I’m not getting enough...” he spins the metal can around to look at the nutrition facts, “...Vitamin C?” 

“You’re the best at managing your health out of everyone I know,” Keonhee counters. 

“But I’m going to make hot and sour soup tonight,” Seoho says, sliding the now much lighter, emptier can back over to Keonhee. Cheekily, he rests his chin in the palm of his hand as he grins at Keonhee. “And baked yams.” 

Those are two of Keonhee’s favorite dishes from Seoho. Damn him. 

“You can have the rest of the juice,” Keonhee says in defeat, and Seoho laughs. 

“Contrary to popular belief, I didn’t come here _just_ to bully you,” Seoho says. “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

“My mom has been nagging me about _settling down_ with someone nice,” Keonhee says, wrinkling his nose. “She wants me to get married. Or consider it.” 

Seoho stares at Keonhee for a moment, and between them, Keonhee’s discomfort rises steadily while Seoho’s confusion distinctly dulls into something muted and withdrawn. He’s gotten the hang of hiding emotions the best he can even with all the vulnerability that a soul bond has inflicted on him, but Keonhee’s learned to stop interpreting it as Seoho shutting him out and see it more as Seoho being considerate. 

“What’s wrong with that? You want to get married eventually anyways, right?” Seoho asks. 

“Yeah, but I don’t want it to be on some sort of deadline,” Keonhee says. “I’d like it to feel right, instead of something I’m rushing into just because I need to tick off a box in my life achievements.” 

Keonhee’s always liked the idea of marriage. He doesn’t think it’s a requirement for happiness, or the solution that some couples think it is to end all relationship troubles, but he definitely wants it for himself. 

It’s just that he’s never really motivated to go on dates, let alone _marry_ someone. The few he’s been on made him feel like he was chewing on wet newspaper instead of making any substantial conversation, and love feels even more like a blessing delivered to the lucky few when he sees the way Youngjo brightens up on days where Geonhak comes to pick him up for dinner, or when two clients return from an arranged meeting on a follow up appointment, eyes starry and rose filled as they thank Keonhee for helping them meet. 

The closest person he could see himself spending the rest of his life with is actually... sitting across from him, blinking thoughtfully at Keonhee and completely unaware of Keonhee’s inner turmoil while the contents of Keonhee’s stomach tangle up like a ball of yarn stuck in tar, or something equally terrible. 

Seoho’s _bonded_ with Keonhee, sure, but it doesn’t mean they’re destined partners. It doesn’t mean Seoho wants to marry Keonhee and raise a Saint Bernard puppy with him and eat three meals a day with Keonhee instead of the usual one (or two). 

Ever the optimist in life, Youngjo had suggested Keonhee just _ask_. 

He’s right, and Keonhee doesn’t have issues asking for what he wants, but... 

He has issues asking Seoho for more than what they already have, because Seoho’s given Keonhee so much for someone who’d always wanted to keep everything to himself, for someone who had never wanted to be part of a soul bond. It seems unfair to potentially trap Seoho further in Keonhee’s own enthusiasm for a life Seoho might not want, even though they have circled around the topic of marriage and life priorities, and Seoho seems inclined to go along with whatever his partner wishes for. 

_I don’t like hurting people,_ Seoho had said once, when Keonhee asked him why he was so afraid of talking about his feelings, and the words have lingered in the back of Keonhee’s mind ever since. It’d made him realize that an opportunity to expand and change to one person might feel like prison bars or an ultimatum of sacrifice to another. He doesn’t want to do that to Seoho. 

“You just got more anxious,” Seoho says, chuckling. “I mean, you work at a matchmaking agency. You meet plenty of people that you would be able to help yourself out too in that regard, right?” 

“I wouldn’t advertise myself to a _client_ ,” Keonhee says. “I’m not _Youngjo._ ” 

“According to you, ‘Youngjo hyung is very professional and never flirts more than what his default personality allows’,” Seoho points out, amused. He must feel the irritation Keonhee’s sending across their bond as much as he’s seeing and hearing it. “And that’s not what I meant. I’m just saying you have plenty of intersections in your life that you don’t have to worry about stuff like that. You’re a wonderful person, Keonhee. Who wouldn’t fall in love with you?” 

Keonhee flushes at the unexpected sincerity. Compliments from Youngjo are insufferable, but compliments from Seoho are an instant K.O. “You’re exaggerating!” 

“I’m not.” Seoho laughs. There’s a sudden heaviness in Keonhee’s chest that doesn’t belong to him, and when he looks at Seoho, the corners of Seoho’s smile look a little forced. Maybe lonely, too, or sad. Keonhee aches at the sight of it, before he remembers Seoho’s going to sense that and consciously tuck away what sliver of feelings he’s accidentally let show. “If that’s all your crisis was about, bean pole, I’m going to go back to work.” 

Keonhee crosses his arms. “Don’t call me bean pole!” 

“What should I call you then?” Seoho ruffles Keonhee’s hair gently. “Honeybee?” It’s a reference to the time Keonhee wore a striped black and yellow sweater to a reunion party, and Seoho brings it up every time he wants to see Keonhee go red with frustration. 

“You’re making fun of me,” Keonhee says. 

“I would never,” Seoho replies smoothly, giggling despite himself. 

Preparing to leave, he buys a bottle of lychee juice and tosses it into Keonhee’s hands without any warning beforehand, unrepentant in his delight when Keonhee yelps at the unidentified object flying towards him. 

“We should go to batting cages sometime,” Seoho says. “You’d probably lose your voice from screaming in terror.” 

“Evil, evil, evil,” Keonhee chants, but Seoho’s already out the door, and Keonhee’s left to drink his lychee juice in solitude, pondering over the way Seoho’s voice had gone fond and soft at the word _honeybee._

One less syllable, and it would be…

“Pull yourself together, Lee Keonhee,” Keonhee chides himself. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

☆

“Did you have a good talk with Seoho-ssi?” Youngjo asks, when Keonhee arrives back at the office. He’s so pleasant and hopeful about it that Keonhee wants to snarl at him. How dare Youngjo encourage Keonhee into thinking about his feelings for his best-friend-slash-bond-mate, because now it’s all Keonhee does and life is never going to be the same again. “Did you convey your feelings with conviction!”

“I did not convey my feelings with conviction,” Keonhee says dully. Then he frowns. “Wait, what do you mean _did I convey my feelings._ I just went to the convenience store to have a quick lunch.” 

“I saw you two at the window when I was picking up takeout.” Youngjo hums. “You looked very serious.” 

“He came to find me because he could sense my distress in the morning,” Keonhee says. “I wasn’t ready to tell him, so I only said my mom wanted me to get married.” 

“Not the right time or place, or...?”

“Seoho hyung is really nice to me,” Keonhee says. “He didn’t have to accept the bond, when it first happened. We were allowed to break it, with enough intention, but he knows how much I cherish them so he chose to keep it. He’s trained himself to mute his emotions if he doesn’t want me to be affected by them, but he doesn’t shut me out, and I’m afraid that asking for more will be too selfish of me. That it’ll ruin the balance we’ve worked so hard to figure out—” 

“He’s a lawyer, but he cooks dinner for you almost every day,” Youngjo says. 

“He’s seen my fridge,” Keonhee says. It’s gotten to the point where Keonhee will just put the pickled dishes his mom sends him into Seoho’s refrigerator instead of his own. “He told me it’s easier to cook for two people than one, since he doesn’t like eating the same thing over and over.” 

“You guys live in the same apartment complex, and he still lets you crash at his place whenever you whine about being too sleepy to go back to your own apartment,” Youngjo says. “You told me he hates being touched, but he lets you do your oversized lapdog cuddling, and he always plays along with your jokes, and listens to you even if he’s pretending not to.” 

“So what?” 

“ _So,_ ” Youngjo says, slowly, “minus a couple obvious things, I don’t think the two of you are that different from a married couple. You said, too, that he’s kind but he doesn’t let people cross boundaries, so it means he’s more than okay with how things are right now.” 

“That doesn’t mean I can push for more,” Keonhee says. “A soul bond doesn’t mean I can just take over his life however I wish.” 

“So you’re okay if Seoho-ssi goes and marries someone else?” Youngjo says, and Keonhee gapes at him. “Your lives would shift dramatically if that were to happen, and you wouldn’t have a say in it because it would be too late to ask for what you want by then.” 

It’s too much to think about. Keonhee wants to use Seoho’s calmer, muted half of their bond to calm himself, but before he can do that, a pinprick of quiet curiosity scatters across the bond, diffusing and fading into softer ripples of Seoho’s worry. Keonhee’s probably disturbing Seoho’s work again, enough that he’s subtly sending question marks Keonhee’s way. 

As a last resort, Keonhee silences his own feelings to the best of his abilities, wincing when Seoho’s worry inevitably grows larger before eventually softening as he withdraws from inquiring any further. 

Youngjo takes Keonhee’s lip wobble as response enough, and he laughs. “You’ve framed your feelings towards him and marriage as something born out of convenience, but isn’t that fine, too? There’s explosive, passionate love, but there’s also love where you fall so slowly you don’t notice until you’re in too deep, and it’s not any less special, right?” 

“You’re spouting so much wisdom for someone with their head constantly in the clouds,” Keonhee says. 

“Geonhakkie taught me that all forms and expressions of love are special,” Youngjo says wistfully, with the sort of look that means he’s dreaming about his boyfriend mid-conversation. “His presence was, and is still, very grounding for me when I was feeling lost about my place in the world.” 

“I can’t even make fun of you because that’s genuinely touching,” Keonhee says, groaning. “Don’t you have any clients coming in? Or paperwork to fill out?” 

“Not for another fifteen minutes!” Youngjo says, voice honey sweet. “Anyways, if you don’t marry Seoho-ssi, Geonhak and I gladly will.” 

“ _No_ ,” Keonhee says, shrilly, and Youngjo laughs at him until Keonhee takes a small, green bird plushie off the windowsill and chucks it at Youngjo’s chest, telling him to _knock it off or else._

Youngjo does take pity on Keonhee and stops teasing him, leaving Keonhee to pick up the bird plushie and dust it off dutifully because it’s one Seoho bought for him a few months ago. 

_At least this one’s not a pigeon,_ Keonhee thinks. 

☆

“I didn’t know you could cut off your emotions,” Seoho says to Keonhee later in the evening, after they’ve finished dinner and Keonhee has put all the soapy dishes into the dishwasher for their rinse cycle. Keonhee is full of soup and yams and contentment. “I was worried for a moment when your heart went all quiet.” 

They’re watching a new episode of an ongoing demon possession show, which means Keonhee’s curled all of his long limbs to fit in Seoho’s lap on the couch. He’s using Seoho’s hoodie sleeve to cover his eyes whenever he gets scared, and sneaking his hand inside of it to lace their fingers together if he’s ☆extra☆ scared. 

“You complain about my feelings being too loud for you,” Keonhee says. He knows Seoho won’t ask why he did it, but it’s evident that Seoho isn’t used to it, and Keonhee feels bad because it’s almost like lying. He doesn’t like lying about important things to the people he cares about most. “I don’t lack that much self-awareness.” 

“I don’t actually mind,” Seoho says. Keonhee’s heart stutters foolishly with a bit of happiness. “Sometimes I turn off my music and just listen to your heart to relax, because it’s just as noisy, but has no _beat_ —”

Keonhee’s nervousness crackles as it disintegrates into irritation, and he can feel Seoho tensing up behind him and holding back a laugh. “You’re so mean to me!” 

“Only because you make it so easy,” Seoho says. He presses a hand to Keonhee’s forehead, making Keonhee lean back against him before he starts playing with Keonhee’s hair, taking one section and dividing it into three for a tiny braid. “Were you upset? Or still worried about the marriage thing?” 

Sometimes Keonhee thinks his friendship with Seoho only works so well because their conversations always have a clear, laid out undertone for him to use as guidance, a cheat sheet on whether he’s pushed too far or not enough, but it’s more than that, too. Seoho could easily choose to ignore the sparks of distress Keonhee sends out at least three times a day, but he asks about the ones that matter, and even before their soul bond, Seoho had never let a joke of Keonhee’s fall flat even if he was tired. He’s not always at his best, but he always _tries_ his best for Keonhee, and doesn’t Keonhee do the same for him? 

“Something...something like that, yeah,” Keonhee says, and Seoho pauses the show. Neither of them have been paying attention for at least five minutes, so they’re going to have to rewind it anyway. 

Seoho doesn’t rewind, though. The screen remains black, white subtitles left on a line Keonhee can’t make sense of without context. 

“I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to get married, Keonhee,” Seoho says, fingers stilling for a few seconds. Apprehension tiptoes its way down Keonhee’s forearms before it hops staccato down his rib cage and then melts away into nothing as Seoho resumes braiding Keonhee’s hair. “Soul bonds aren’t inherently romantic, so if you found someone you really liked that would be fine with me.”

Keonhee doesn’t turn around, hoping that if he keeps relatively still, Seoho won’t feel self-conscious and will keep explaining what he means. “Seoho hyung?” 

“You don’t have to define your life by fated occurrences if they’re no longer true to what you want,” Seoho says, and it finally clicks for Keonhee that Seoho thinks he’s holding Keonhee back from moving forward with his life when it’s the complete opposite. “You’d probably have to stop crawling all over me, though, because I don’t think your future spouse would necessarily be okay with it—“ 

“What if the person I want to marry is someone like you?” Keonhee asks, softly, and Seoho freezes. “What if it _is_ you? Would that be terrible of me?” 

A long silence follows, Seoho’s emotions clouded and murky when Keonhee searches for whatever’s being sent across the bond, desperate for a hint of how the conversation is going to go now that his not so casual feelings towards Seoho are out in the open. 

“Keonhee-ah, if this is a joke…” Seoho’s voice is unsteady. 

Vivid hope wells up in Keonhee’s chest until it’s overflowing, and the same thing is happening in Seoho’s chest, too, because a foreign sort of excitement and fondness rush into Keonhee, filling the underbelly of his hope with affirmation he didn’t know he was allowed to want. 

“It’s not a joke,” Keonhee says, shaking his head before he realizes he’ll ruin the braid Seoho’s made. “You can sense it, right? My sincerity.” 

“It’s very loud,” Seoho says in quiet agreement. “Have you thought about this seriously?” 

“Of course I have!” Keonhee says. “I just didn’t know if I should tell you or not, because I already changed your life in a lot of unexpected ways, and made you stay in town because of the bond separation anxiety when it first happened, and—” 

“You didn’t make me do anything,” Seoho says, hushing Keonhee. He presses his lips to the whorl of Keonhee’s hair, and the warmth of it makes the rest of Keonhee’s argument slip away from him, like sand seeping through his fingers. “You keep forgetting.” 

“You go out of your way to be kind to others and that often means silent sacrifice on your end!” Keonhee says, and he bulldozes through the consequent shock ringing through his ears. “I don’t want to be the person who takes and takes from you without ever giving you something in return. I don’t take you for granted, and it’s already a privilege that you’ve allowed me to be in so much of your life and your heart.” 

“So you’re okay with…” Seoho trails off, and starts again when Keonhee wriggles in his grasp, demanding a continuation of Seoho’s thought. “You’re okay with me? I don’t always talk about my feelings, and I’m not one of those cute girl protagonists you always gush about whenever you read your romance novels.”

“I know you’re not a cute girl protagonist,” Keonhee says, biting his lip as he considers evenings spent on his own, where his thoughts sometimes wandered to the pale expanse of skin underneath the open collar of Seoho’s dress shirts, and the lean muscle of Seoho’s thighs in cotton shorts or light wash jeans. 

He doesn’t notice what he’s let run across the bond until he feels Seoho shifting nervously against him, and that has Keonhee flushing pink with embarrassment. 

“Sorry,” Keonhee says, tucking away the more dangerous side of his attraction for another time, another day. “Well, I’m more than okay with you, obviously. I like everything about you.” He can tell Seoho’s hesitating on how to respond, so he maneuvers himself and turns around so that he’s straddling Seoho, laughing when he accidentally knees Seoho’s hip and elbows Seoho in the stomach in his attempts to get situated again. 

Seoho grimaces in comical exaggeration until Keonhee pinches him in annoyance. “You must not like me that much, considering you’ve injured me in five different places just now.” 

“Don’t be dramatic,” Keonhee says. Seoho reaches out to cup Keonhee’s face on both sides, and Keonhee slides his hands over Seoho’s. “I want to kiss you. Can I?” 

“Where’s my wedding ring, Keonhee-ah?” Seoho says, laughing as he watches Keonhee pucker his lips expectantly. “Are you just going in for the kill?” 

“We can go shopping for wedding rings together later,” Keonhee whines. 

Joy floods the bond both ways, and Keonhee is so happy he thinks he would float away into the clouds if the insides of his knees weren’t securely pressed on either side of Seoho’s thighs. _I’d like it to feel right,_ Keonhee had told Seoho, and that’s exactly what this feels like because he’d love nothing better than to remain by Seoho’s side for the rest of their lives. 

“That sounds like a plan—” Seoho says, and eagerly, Keonhee captures those pretty, plush lips in a long awaited kiss. 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! if you enjoyed, please consider leaving a comment as i treasure them very much ♥♥♥


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